15/12/2010 On the tenth evening of Ashura Wednesday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah delivers a political speech, unlike his eminence’s earlier speeches on the occasion, which primarily focused on the religious aspects and the lessons that can be drawn from the martyrdom of Imam Hussein son of Imam Ali peace upon them.

Sayyed Nasrallah began his speech by stressing the Greater Israel project has ended. “The fundamental issue in our region is the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the plots being set with Palestine being the focus. For Israel in our present time, there are certain notions that have ceased to exist. There is no longer a so called Greater Israel project due to perseverance, sacrifices, and the resistance, but certainly not because the positive quality of the Israelis. On the 25th of May 2000, the final nail was put in Israel’s project.”

The Hezbollah chief also said that Israel can neither impose its conditions nor declare war anymore. “Israel’s image that used to terrify this region can’t even scare children today. The 2006 victory of the resistance in Lebanon and the steadfastness of the Gazans have dealt a death blow to Israel’s project. These are two achievements by the resistance and the camp that backed it, and whoever was on the other side of the conflict lost with Israel despite international and some regional support.”

Sayyed Nasrallah, however, warned that “this does not mean that Israel has become weak and can be removed (from the region). Israel still possesses many elements of force, but it is not the Israel that had plans of establishing the Greater Israel. It is seeking to rebuild its force and reinforce its home front. However, Israel has been moving fast towards Judaizing Palestine and declaring a Jewish state. Israel’s project has become limited to historic Palestine, excluding Gaza, so as to establish its identity. Israel is working on this; it is increasing its military forces. Even in Lebanon today, and as a result of intense coordination between the Lebanese army and the resistance, several sophisticated spying equipment and cameras relaying day and night pictures to Israel, have been dismantled on the Sannine and Barouk Mountains. Israel found itself in front of three options: The first is to go to negotiations and settlement; but this is not what Israel seeks because it does not will to make concessions. The second is to go to war, with Lebanon, Syria, Iran, or Gaza or maybe all of them. Israel knows that going to war on any front would be adventurous. Therefore, everything we hear today from Israel’s side is mere psychological war. The third option is to maintain a status quo pending regional and international changes that may help Israel in going to war or going to settlement. Israel prefers the third option to make use of time and finalize all steps to Judaize Palestine. Yet, the Israelis say that this would also give Israel’s enemies more time to gain more strength. This is true. The Israelis as well as some in Lebanon have been raising the issue of Hezbollah’s growing force not to mention Syria and Iran’s. For the Israelis, this is a really serious conflict because their future is at stake. However, Israel’s real option is sedition; Muslim-Christian strife in Egypt, Sunni-Shiite strife and Arab-Kurd strife in Iraq. The most dangerous of the aforementioned is the Sunni-Shiite strife.”

His eminence reminded that [head of Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee] Shaul Mofaz had warned the Arab world a few days ago against what he called the Shiite threat or the Shiite epidemic. “He called for alliance between Israel and whom he calls moderate Arabs against the Shiite danger. He told the Sunnis he wanted to make an alliance with them against the Shiites. Mofaz seems to have forgotten what he did to the Sunnis. Every massacre Israel committed in Palestine was against Sunnis, all of the displaced Palestinians were Sunnis, those whom Israel eliminated from the face of earth were Sunnis, the thousands of prisoners in Israeli jails are Sunnis, and those whom Israel had fought in Syria, Jordan, Egypt and part of Lebanon were Sunnis. Impudent Mofaz has his reasons to make such an appeal.”

Sayyed Nasrallah called to beware of what Israel and the US are planning for this region. “Shiites and Sunnis alike share the responsibility to stand up to this threat. This requires accuracy and understanding of the background of what has been happening in the region and the world. It is also the responsibility of the Christians in the east whose mere existence is being aimed at. Israel and the US do not care about the Christians in the east; they only care about their interests. I tell some Christians in Lebanon who imagine that Sunni-Shiite strife would give them power in Lebanon, that they are mistaken. The Israelis want the existence of Christians in the region to end and want to weaken the Muslim presence here. In this context, we understand what lies behind the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and the indictment being prepared to accuse Hezbollah members or leaders in martyr Rafiq Hariri’s assassination.”

The Hezbollah leader revealed that in 2006, news reports stated that the international investigation was inclined to accuse Hezbollah in the murder. “In 2008, I was directly told about this; it is not a secret. However, we did not take any action because we give heed to this country. When I received a request for a one-year truce, I understood that such an indictment was in the making. Never did we seek any justification to take over the country or turn against the Taef Accord. If we had sought such justification, we had one since 2008. The indictment issue has become serious and it constitutes the foundation of a plot against Hezbollah and the resistance in Lebanon. It is irrational to stay silent until the issuance of the indictment. I am sure that the STL will face something more difficult than Wikileaks. Our obligation stipulates that we explain the situation as a whole and we have been doing this for months. We indicated that the investigation is politicized because investigators insist on ruling out the Israeli involvement hypothesis despite the evidence we provided. We do not want tension in the country, but we also have to defend Lebanon and the resistance.”

The secretary general reminded that when former head of the international investigation Detlev Mehlis, he used to rely on a former German intelligence officer called Gerhard Lehman. “This corrupt man was responsible for leaking investigation reports. Lehman has sold document here in Lebanon, and the people who bought those documents handed them to me. He sold them for 50 or 70 thousand dollars. I was made an offer to buy everything that concerns the investigation for a million dollars; perhaps I was wrong to refuse and maybe they will be leaked in the future. They are protecting the false witnesses, not the Mohamad Zuheir Siddiq type of witnesses, but those who fabricated them, like Mehlis, Lehman, and some Lebanese political and security leaders. Tonight, the Cabinet did not vote on how to deal with the false witnesses’ issue. Tonight, the government was protecting them and those who fabricated them.”

Sayyed Nasrallah stressed Hezbollah does not tolerate injustice. “If we wanted to take advantage of this and turn over the table we would have done so, but we did not. We adhere to this country but we don’t want anyone to aggress the resistance. No one should expect that we want to annul the UNSC resolution, but initiatives can suspend UN resolutions. Syria was targeted for four years for a reason. The objectives were thwarted by the steadfastness and perseverance of Syria and the resistance. Today they are pointing the finger at Hezbollah, also for purposes like damaging the image of the resistance and its allies, thus driving a wedge between Hezbollah and its Sunni and Christian allies to isolate the party and then attack it. Let us thwart these goals. Let us review the work of the international investigation and its flaws in the past five years.”

His eminence suggested that “since the March 14 bloc say they don’t know anything about the investigation, why do they insist on defending the false witnesses? We don’t seek to try those behind the false witnesses, we want the truth. We regard the Syrian-Saudi effort with great hope to find a way to avoid internal tension and we should all work together to back this effort and find a solution before the issuance of the indictment. A major decision has been taken for this country. We should all combine forces to confront the indictment and its aftermath, and protect the country.”

“Tomorrow, we take to the street to renew allegiance to Imam Hussein. Tomorrow will be different and exceptional in attendance. Tomorrow, the world is waiting to see your faces, your eyes, your fists, and your resolve. Our attendance tomorrow will reflect our commitment to righteousness, resistance, our fixed standards, and to protecting our Palestine. We will tell the world that the Israeli drums of war will not scare us, and we shall confront conspiracies. Tomorrow we will tell the world that we are the resistance society that trusts God and is sure of victory in the end.”